CNN's John King admits it 'was, in a word, stupid' to run with sketchy rumor about Joe Biden's campaign

Sarah D | 3:59 PM on February 04, 2020

Earlier today, CNN host John King shared the news that Joe Biden’s campaign was possibly considering seeking a court injunction to top the partial release of the Iowa caucus results this afternoon.

CNN's John King reports that the Biden campaign may seek a court injunction to halt this afternoon’s release of the Iowa Caucus results.

Before the Iowa results are released, Biden's campaign is questioning the integrity of the results. pic.twitter.com/nkr83ZE5fD

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 4, 2020

The Biden campaign disputed the rumor:

Biden aide on report that he would file an injunction to stop the release of the Iowa results: “That is 100% false, and checking with people before reporting rumors about them is an underrated practice."

— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 4, 2020

So CNN ended up with egg on their faces again, though this time it was Democrats who threw it. Someone’s got to be on cleanup duty … might as well be John King:

Important: Team Biden says talk it may challenge IA release plans 100% untrue. In the breaking news rush my discussing, even skeptically, incoming from rival campaigns was, in a word, stupid.

— John King (@JohnKingCNN) February 4, 2020

Good on King for admitting he screwed up and did something that was, in his own words, “stupid.” But it’s hard to muster too much sympathy when “stupid” is as CNN does. This sort of thing is a feature of CNN’s brand of journalism, not a bug.

You fed disinformation to viewers. Why not call the Biden campaign for their response before spreading disinformation? Discussing opposing campaigns' rumors and innuendos, even "skeptically", made you their useful idiot. After 2016, how can a journalist still fall for this play?

— Pickles's Mom (@TSlusarewicz) February 4, 2020